Nikolaev tram

Konka

In the 19th century, the “Belgian anonymous society of Nikolaev equestrian railways” was created in Nikolaev . On July 26 ( August 7 ), 1897 , the horse traffic began. The first route was short: from the chapel of Alexander II, which was located at the intersection of Sobornaya and Kherson streets, to the Military Market on Slobodka. Near the chapel was the nodal starting point of all the lines. Horse cones were made in Odessa ^[1] .

Horse-drawn carriage on Cathedral Street

Horse-drawn carriage on Cathedral Street near the London hotel

In December of the same 1897, a second line of horseback was laid, connecting the city center with the railway station ^[1] .

The next route, launched in June 1898, connected the city with the country residence of Prince Grigory Potemkin - Spassky. This route operated only in the summer, and from October 15 to March 15 the movement was suspended. In the summer, at the Spassk terminus, an additional third horse was harnessed to the horse to overcome a steep ascent ^[1] .

In August 1898, construction of another line leading to the port was completed. Later, all these lines merged into two fairly long routes: "Station - Military Market" and "Spassk - Elevator (port)". The length of the path was more than 14.5 kilometers ^[1] .

The horse road was single-track with special crossings for passing oncoming rides. There was the following rule of movement: the horse that approached the departure first had to wait for the other person to pass until she passed and passed the rod - a rod with a large round knob ^[1] .

The city horse-railway had two depots with stables and parking for wagons. One depot, built in 1900, was located at Lane A, Building 7 ^[1] .

By the decree of the city duma of July 7, 1898, the following rules were prescribed: the speed of movement must be in the range of 7–12 versts per hour and only trot; traveling must be located at a distance of 235 fathoms from each other (some of these stops have survived as stops of the city tram to the present) ^[1] .

There were summer and winter cars (winter had no upper floor - imperial ). The summer cars of early design were open, had five rows of three seats each and were harnessed with a pair of horses. The summer cars of later release were also open and had twenty places on the benches and six standing places on the rear platform. To protect against rain and wind, there were leather curtains that were pulled down from the roof ^[1] .

Transition to electric traction

In 1902-1903, the correspondence of the city duma with the Belgian society began to translate the horse race into electric traction ^[1] .

In 1909, the design of the first urban electric tram was started ^[1] . A tram with a trailer car was designed and then manufactured at the St. Petersburg representative office of the Belgian company Siemens and Halske . The route equipment to the city authorities cost two million rubles ^[2] .

In February 1913, the horse was bought into the ownership of the city for the redevelopment of its own means under the tram ^[3] .

On December 21, 1914 ( January 3, 1915 ), the first tram was launched on electric propulsion in Nikolaev , and after some time the construction of a tram park was completed, which later became depot No. 1 ^[2] .

At first, horse-drawn carriages were used, which had to be modernized a little: remove the steps along the car and sew open sites with iron sheets. The necessary equipment for the modernization of these cars was made at the shipbuilding plant " Naval ", and the most complex electrical equipment was purchased in other cities. The first trams did not have current collectors on their roofs, the power supply was carried out directly along the rails. The tram traffic was organized along four routes: "Station - City Hospital", "Market - Spassk", "Cabotage Descent - Graveyard ", "Blacksmith - Market". Subsequently, the city received new cars. Electric tram went on the rails races. The length of all lines in the city was 22 versts ^[2] .

For a long time Konka and trams ran at the same time, the city’s tram fleet was 25 wagons. In 1917, the Konka again entered the city's highways, since during the revolution Nikolaev remained without power supply. Only in 1925, the tram traffic in the city was resumed, and the rolling stock increased to 37 units ^[2] .

Soviet time

In Soviet times, the reconstruction of tram tracks was carried out in Nikolaev . Trams for the city were mainly manufactured at the Marty Plant . In the mid-1920s, the park was replenished with 20 locally produced motor and 20 trailed wagons. The first trams were used until the end of the 1960s ^[4] .

However, the city still felt an acute shortage of rolling stock. Specialists from Kharkov took part in the development of a new type tram project. In 1933, the Nikolaev tram fleet began to be replenished with machines of type X and M. The Mytishchi plant and the Marty Nikolaev plant produced them. By the end of the 1930s, the length of the tram tracks was 41 km. The city served 71 units of rolling stock ^[4] .

Since the beginning of World War II, the Nikolaev trams were used to transport the wounded from the seaport and the railway station to the city hospital. To do this, the cabins of the cars were rebuilt, the seats were removed from them, and stretchers stretched across the cabin on special brackets . The movement of trams stopped only when the Nazis invaded the city and blew up the power station. During the occupation, all equipment was crushed, and part of it was taken out for Odessa and abandoned ^[4] .

Immediately after the liberation of the city, the restoration of the Nikolaev tram began. The first phase, which was launched at the end of September 1944, linked the shipyard with the city hospital. In 1945, 18 kilometers of tracks were restored in Nikolaev. The cars that were working at the time were of a primitive design: the doors opened and closed manually (therefore, the trams often went with the doors open even in winter frosts), the wooden bench-seats were located along the windows on both sides, although some passenger seats were placed along the way. movement; rag straps as handrails did not hold passengers during sudden acceleration and deceleration. The conductor's communication with the driver was mechanical: after the car was filled with passengers, the conductor pulled the rope and a bell rang in the driver’s cab, which marked the beginning of the movement. The handbrake steering wheel was located on the rear platform, which in emergency cases was used by conductors ^[4] .

On April 25, 1951, a new depot was commissioned, which received number 2. Only it contained KTM / KTP-1 trams, which have a wider gauge - 1,524 mm. The very first car of dark red color below and cream above had number 201. Subsequent cars were painted in dark blue color. A distinctive feature of these first trams was a small star located in front, which served as a housing for the headlights. The trams, which had a number of 206 inclusive, had doors with rectangular glasses, and the following door glasses were oval (as on KTM-2 cars) ^[4] .

Thus, in the city there were two tram parks with different types of cars (narrow gauge and modern gauge), not connected to each other. The length of the tram tracks in the city at this time was 33.2 kilometers. The cars belonging to depot No. 1 were assigned numbers 401-459, and depot No. 2 were assigned numbers starting from 460 ^[4] .

In 1955-1958, cars began to arrive from the GDR (Gotha T-57 and B-57). They, in comparison with domestic ones, were distinguished by increased comfort, had a warmed driver's cab, soft seats in the cabin and automatic doors ^[4] .

At that time, the construction of new lines for the narrow-gauge tram was stopped, the management of electric transport began to develop routes for the cars of the second tram fleet. MTV-82 cars (nicknamed “Pullmans”), which were operated for a long time in other cities and then undergone repairs in Kiev at the Dzerzhinsky Plant, began to walk along these lines. Their distinctive feature was the presence of three rear windows. Some of these machines were paired with a non-powered trailer. Due to frequent breakdowns of the propeller shaft (the wheelset was driven not directly from the electric motor to the wheels, but through the cardan shafts), these trams were idle for a considerable part of the time to be repaired. There were about ten of them in the city. They were mostly yellow-blue. One of these trams got the nickname “green serpent” because of its green color. Subsequently, their operation was abandoned, and they were sent from the city. In 1976, on the basis of the last of the remaining MTV-82 at number 611, a crane was built for road repairs. It was written off in 1984 and immediately cut into scrap metal ^[4] .

The length of urban tram lines in 1958 was 46 kilometers, and after two years - already 64 kilometers. In 1960, the first KTM / KTP-2 appeared in the city. The first such car had the number 201, was painted in dark cherry color and had red seats for passengers. Subsequent cars were painted blue ^[4] .

From 1961 to 1972 in Nikolaev, the final transition to a broad gauge was carried out, during which time 33.5 kilometers of tracks were brought in line with the general standard. Domestic cars, still of the pre-war type, were sent for scrap metal, and 7 German ones were sent to Evpatoria in 1969 ^[4] .

By 1970, the conductors were replaced by cash registers assuming the honesty of passengers. The length of all tram lines in Nikolaev was 70 kilometers, which employed 191 cars. In the early 1970s, 12 KTM-5 cars arrived in the city, painted in steel-gray color and not having stamping on the sidewalls of the body. Compared with the predecessors, they had an improved trim and the quality of light used fluorescent lamps. But their frequent breakdowns and faults forced the management of electric transport to abandon these machines, as a result they were sent back to the plant in Ust-Katav ^[5] .

In the mid-1970s, upgraded KTM-5MZ wagons began to arrive (the first batch of 25 units). These trams began to arrive at depot No. 1 and had numbers from 401 to 459. They began to arrive at the second depot KTM-5MZ a little later, they were assigned numbers from 460 to 525. At the same time, cash registers were replaced by a ticketing system sold at kiosks at every stop. At this time, there were 206 cars in the city’s tram parks ^[5] .

Ust-Katav KTM-5MZ wagons continued to flow into Nikolaev. Along with them, the KTM-2 also walked along the routes, but they were no longer repaired, but were removed from the line as they were worn out and charged off. Tense working routes served only new cars, and old cars traveled along less loaded routes with new ones ^[5] .

In the mid-1980s, all the enterprises of city electric transport merged, and the numbering of wagons accordingly changed. Now the tram number consisted of a four-digit number, where the first digit meant belonging to the depot (1 - the first depot, 2 - the second depot, 3 - the trolleybus depot). So, the carriage that had the old number 401 according to the new principle received the number 1001 ^[5] .

With independent Ukraine

In 1996, four white-blue KTM-8 cars arrived in Nikolaev , which were assigned to the second depot. At first they walked like single trams, and then they made them double ^[5] .

In 1999, the management of electric transport has changed the system of payment for travel on trams, returning the conductors to the cars ^[5] .

At the beginning of 2001 three D6 T5 trams of Dnepropetrovsk production arrived in the city ^[5] .

At the time of 2002, 145 trams were in operation.

In early 2005, the city celebrated the 90th anniversary of the launch of the first electric tram. In honor of the holiday and for the merits of the tram in front of the city, the municipal enterprise “Nikolayevelektrotrans” was awarded a diploma of the Verkhovna Rada in the nomination “Leader of the transport industry of Ukraine” of the all-Ukrainian project “Ukraine Transport”.

In 2011, the tram depot number 2 was closed. All trams were relocated to depot No. 1 ^[6] .

Also in 2011, in order to popularize electric transport, “Nikolayevelektrotrans” began to offer a tram rental - for a birthday, a wedding, a romantic tour or a photo shoot ^[7] .

On September 28, 2015, the first Tatra T3M tram arrived in Nikolaev.

Currently, there are 6 routes in Nikolaev :

• V. F. Veklich , L. V. Zbarsky Problems and Prospects for the Development of Tram Transport in the Ukrainian SSR — K.: The Knowledge Society of the Ukrainian SSR, 1980
• Electric Transport of Ukraine: Encyclopedic Guide / Sergey Tarkhov, Kost Kozlov, Aare Olander. - Kiev: Sidorenko V. B., 2010. - 912 pp., Ill., Schemes. - ISBN 978-966-2321-11-1 . (in Ukrainian)

• The Nikolaev tram on the website of the Nikolaev city council
• Alexander Govorukha. Nikolaev tram on the eve of the centenary of the anniversary (Neopr.) . Nikolaev Bazaar (2009). The date of circulation is January 12, 2012. Archived on March 3, 2012.
• Tatyana Gracheva. The Nikolaev tram is without glass windows, without serviceable doors, but still, the upper room of the elderly is full (Neopr.) . Nick Life (2011). The date of circulation is January 12, 2012. Archived on March 3, 2012.
• Nikolaev electric transport on the site Transphoto.ru
• Nicholas Tram on Google Maps
• The song "Nikolaev tram" performed by Arkady Severny